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Regret to report that ToddlerDottir has taken to bellowing nursery rhymes for an hour in the middle of the night.
Which sounds cute, but "THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO ROUNDYROUND" is not the 3AM alarm we asked for or needed.
Which sounds cute, but "THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO ROUNDYROUND" is not the 3AM alarm we asked for or needed.
She's currently supposed to be having a nap, and is thus shouting "I'M EXCITED, DADDY!" from her cot loud as a bosun in a typhoon.
Now she’s counting aloud. 1, 2, 3, 14, 6, Dog, 8...
She’s a tiny ambulant numbers station.
She’s a tiny ambulant numbers station.
Me attempting to prevent her from devouring handwash:
“No, honey, we don’t eat soap.”
Her, puzzled, plaintive: “Yes we doooo.”
“No, honey, we don’t eat soap.”
Her, puzzled, plaintive: “Yes we doooo.”
Getting to adopt this amazing little girl has been one of the biggest strokes of luck in my life, and I've had a few, not least Heroic Wife, who does 9% of the heavy lifting and logistics and child-wrangling. Am a very lucky man.
So, two year and a bit years ago we got told we'd been approved as potential adopters. They asked us how we'd deal with the frustration when (not if) it took months and months, maybe years to get matched with a suitable kid...
We replied that, well, we have a big building project going on, so we wouldn't be able to take a kid for months anyway, and the whole adoption/training had been quite a preparation in learning to deal with uncertainty and delay so...yeah.
...
FIVE WEEKS LATER, they get in touch, asking if we might be at all interested in a little baby girl who needed placing.
Week after that, she's there in our house, beaming up at us.
FIVE WEEKS LATER, they get in touch, asking if we might be at all interested in a little baby girl who needed placing.
Week after that, she's there in our house, beaming up at us.
Week after that my Dad has a massive stroke. She meets him for the first time in A&E, her tiny hand holds one of his fingers. His last intelligible word is "Beautiful".
He dies a week later.
He dies a week later.
And here's the thing. If he'd died a week sooner or we'd got her a week later the whole thing would have been off. Because if you have a bereavement, you have to take six months out of the process.
I think about that a lot. That they got to meet means more to me than I can say.
I think about that a lot. That they got to meet means more to me than I can say.
So, all in all, I've used up all the luck for everyone forever. Sorry not sorry.
I just went to give her a massive hug and kiss, and she's holding a banana up in the air like the statue of liberty, beaming, shouting "DADDY YOU HAVE A BIG HEAD."
That's my girl : )
That's my girl : )
